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As coffee cherries begin turning red on the Kona hills cultivated by Andres Magana Ortiz, his wife and three children are spending as much time as possible with him, knowing every moment counts.
“He’s a good person,” said his eldest daughter, Victoria Magana Ledesma, 20. “He’s helped so many people, other farmers. I feel like he’s built a life here and he doesn’t deserve to be thrown out like this, as if he’s a bad person.”
As a boy of 15, Magana Ortiz crossed the border from Mexico into California in 1989 without permission and eventually made his way to Hawaii as a migrant worker to pick coffee. He has risen to become one of the most respected farmers in the Kona district, leasing about
20 acres and helping run 15 other small farms.
But he faces deportation on Saturday because he entered the country illegally and will be barred from returning for 10 years if immigration authorities do not grant him a waiver. On Friday, he and his American wife, Brenda Cleveland-Reynolds, were interviewed by immigration authorities regarding her petition on his behalf.
“Hawaii is home for me,” said the 43-year-old farmer, whose children are all U.S.-born citizens. “I love this country and I love these islands. If I have to leave, it’s going to be very hard on everyone. We are asking for a little bit of time to make everything straight and legal.”
Magana Ortiz said he and his family are grateful for the “countless gestures of support” and “pure aloha” he has received from the community, including the backing of Hawaii’s entire congressional delegation.
He said he never knew his father and no longer has ties to anyone in Mexico. He tries to keep a positive outlook for his kids, especially 14-year-old daughter Paola and 12-year-old son Hector, who fear losing their dad.
“They are very dependent on him,” said their big sister. “I think he does the best he can to take their mind off it.”
The deportation would take a toll beyond his wife and kids. Tom Greenwell, owner and general manager of Greenwell Farms, grew up in a coffee farming family that dates back generations and considers Magana Ortiz to be one of Kona’s best.
“We are going to lose a valuable asset to the Kona coffee industry” if he has to leave, Greenwell said. “Definitely the community will feel it. No question.”
He added: “He has two green thumbs, I’ll put it that way. He is someone you can tell is very interested in doing it right, not just trying to make a quick buck.”
Magana Ortiz was a leader in efforts to control the coffee berry borer, a destructive pest discovered on Hawaii island in 2010, and collaborated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on field tests.
“He is an outside-the-box thinker but not crazy, real practical,” Greenwell said. “He knows what can really be done in the field. When he found something that he thought he was going to help, he came and shared it fast with everybody else. He always opened up his doors to others.”
The Obama administration started removal proceedings against Magana Ortiz in 2011 but granted him a temporary stay in 2014. In March, he was ordered to leave as the Trump administration stepped up enforcement against people in the country illegally.
In its first 100 days, the new administration made civil immigration arrests of 30,473 people who had been convicted of crimes, an
18 percent increase over the same period in 2016.
Immigration arrests of those without criminal records rose much faster, by 157 percent, to 10,800 from 4,200 last year, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A federal judge, Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote in a May 30 opinion that while President Donald Trump has said he wants to target “bad hombres” in immigration enforcement, “the government’s decision to remove Magana Ortiz shows that even the ‘good hombres’ are not safe.”
Hawaii’s congressional delegation has asked the secretary of homeland security to exercise prosecutorial discretion and allow Magana Ortiz to stay while he adjusts to legal status. In their June 5 letter, they called him “an upstanding member of our community” who “does not belong in the category of dangerous individuals who should be prioritized for deportation.”
“Our country offered Andres the means to become an entrepreneur and he paid us back in full,” U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said in a separate floor speech. “He started a business, he creates jobs, he takes care of his workers and he’s a leader in our community. Andres is not a legal resident of Hawaii, but Hawaii owes him a debt for his contributions.”
Even as an unauthorized immigrant, Magana Ortiz said he has been paying income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service issues Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers so that foreign nationals can pay regardless of their immigration status.
His record behind the wheel, however, is not spotless. Court files show that Magana Ortiz has had traffic violations, including driving under the influence in 1999 and driving without a license. But those infractions are not the basis for his removal.
His future rests on the ability of his wife or possibly his daughter to vouch for him. He and the children’s mother, who is not a U.S. citizen, were never married and broke up several years ago. He married Cleveland-Reynolds in January 2016.
Since the marriage occurred after removal proceedings began, it is considered suspect under the law as a basis for changing his status. Friday’s immigration interview was aimed at determining if the marriage is legitimate.
“We believe we’ve got clear and convincing evidence that this is a real marriage and not a marriage for the purpose of giving him a green card,” said attorney James Stanton, who represents Magana Ortiz. “If it’s approved, he would file for a provisional waiver while he is in the United States. Upon approval, he would return to Mexico and could come back after a couple of weeks.”
Immigrants who overstay visas can adjust their status while in the United States if they marry U.S. citizens, but those who entered without inspection, like Magana Ortiz, must return to their home countries to apply.
His daughter Victoria is on the dean’s list at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where she is studying business administration and sociology. Her father is paying for her education and she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to continue without him.
Once she turns 21 in August, she could petition on his behalf. But he may not be allowed to stay here that long, and the opportunity will be lost if he is deported.
“If he steps foot in Mexico … I cannot apply for him, which is really sad,” she said. “They may deport him a month before I turn 21. It’s really bad timing.”
Her father was so moved by the outpouring of support that he composed a public message of thanks to “the people of Hawaii.”
“Your support and love keeps my hope alive and spirit unwavering,” he wrote. “I want to say how lucky I feel to be a member of this wonderful community of islands and that I hope I can continue working an honest job growing coffee for the people of Hawaii.”
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